Everything doesn’t go right, the first time.
It is difficult to accept digital failures and the all-too-often human failure to properly use digital technology as it was designed to be used.
Many information technology experts place blame on the designers of digital systems, especially software vendors (both those who create operating systems and those who author applications) for users’ difficulties in properly using computers. Much of the criticism is aptly directed, For example, the Microsoft Windows system registry, first introduced in 1993 with Windows 95, while a boon to hardware and peripheral makers, is actually a poorly-designed total system management tool, because once corrupted, the registry is very nearly impossible to repair. There is no easily accessible means of backing up and restoring the registry automatically without risking misconfigurations.
Early versions of Microsoft Windows, up to version 3.11 for Workgroups, and all versions of Linux use a system of initialization and configuration files that can quickly be duplicated and individually—or collectively—restored, in the event of a system failure.
Regardless, personal computers are complex, and believe it or not, quite delicate instruments—as most users will attest after spending a few hours (or days) attempting to repair a corrupted application or coaxing an inkjet printer to create the proper shade of rouge on family pictures.
With all of this software (and hardware) bashing, pushing forward with full force, most users forget that all technologies require training and proper procedures. Most consumers do not want to recognize that a toaster oven should be unplugged when not in use; that is, until their toasting unit spontaneously bursts into flames, one day. Actually, the oven most likely heat up of its own volition, but rather a family member mishandled the oven, possibly bumping the on/off switch during a routine kitchen counter activity.
Soup and pasta with tomato sauce should not be heated in an uncovered microwaveable container, unless the sight of red splatters in the microwave is appealing to you. Surely, the designers of these consumer systems could have created better systems: guarded on/off switches, containers with hinged, no-loss lids. All it takes to prevent these common problems is two simple system changes. However, repairing these two problems creates new problems. By repositioning the on/off switch on the toaster oven, the unit becomes more difficult to operate. Installing a hinge on microwavable container lids makes dishwashing—manual and automatic—cumbersome. I should know, as I am my family’s dishwasher.
What perception and judgment paradigm allows is to accept these system failing, but not those of our personal computer? If you are quick to say price, think again, we could just as easily find examples of frustrating system designs in our automobiles and home construction, two items that generally cost more than a personal computer.
I judge that the world, our lives, is complicated. WE look to the personal computer to help us organize and control our lives. When the control system, itself, adds a layer of complication, we react quickly and often out of proportion to the actual incident.
